BOOK 1. all, every considerable family had an historian 1869. who recounted, and a bard who sung, the deeds of the clan and its chieftain, or, on more solemn occasions, the glorious exploits of their heroic ancestors*. The vastness of the objects which surrounded them, lakes, mountains, rocks, cataracts, seemed to expand and elevate their minds; and the severity of the climate, with the nature of the country, and their love, in common with other semi-barbarous nations, of * Many beautiful specimens of Highland poetry might be selected from the works of the most celebrated Gaelic bards, and more particularly from those of Ossian. But the pleasure we derive from them would be much enhanced could their pretensions to the high antiquity they claim be more satisfactorily ascertained. Ossian's address to the sun, to adduce no other instance, is truly sublime: "O thou that rollest above, round as the shield of my fathers, whence are thy beams, O Sun! whence thy everlasting light? Thou comest forth in thy awful beauty; and the stars hide themselves in the sky. The moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave. But thou, thou thyself movest alone! Who can be a companion of thy course? The oaks of the mountains fall; the mountains themselves decay with years; the ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon herself is lost in heaven: but thou art for ever the same, rejoicing in the brightness of thy course! When the world is dark with tempests; when thunder rolls and lightning flies, thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds, and laughest at the storm. But to Ossian thou lookest in vain! for he beholds thy beams no more; whether thy yellow hair flows on the eastern cloud, or thou tremblest at the gates of the west," the chace and of war, forced them to great BOOK I. corporeal exertions; while their want of regu- 1689. lar occupation, on the other hand, led them to contemplation and social converse. They received the rare and occasional visits of strangers with a genuine and cordial hospitality, never indulging in a rude or contemptuous ridicule of manners opposite to their own. Considering the inhabitants of the Lowlands in the light of invaders and usurpers, they thought themselves entitled to make reprisals at all convenient opportunities. What their enemies therefore called violence and rapine, they termed right and justice; and in the frequent practice of depredation they became bold, artful and enterprising. An injury done to one of the clan was held, from the common relation of blood, to be an injury to all. Hence the Highlanders were in the habitual practice of war; and hence arose in various instances between clan and clan mortal and deadly feuds, descending from generation to generation. They usually went completely armed with a broad sword, a durk or dagger, a target, musquet, and pistols. Their dress consisted of a jacket and loose lower garment, with a roll of light woollen, called a plaid, wrapt around them so as to leave the right arm at full liberty. Thus equipped and accoutred, they would march forty or fifty miles in a day, sometimes even without food or halting, over BOOK I. mountains, along rocks, through morasses; and 1689. they would sleep on beds formed by tying branches of heath hastily and carelessly together. Their advance to battle was rapid; and after discharging their musquets and pistols, they rushed into the ranks of the enemy with their broad swords; and in close fight, when unable to use their ordinary weapon, they suddenly stabbed with the durk. Their religion, which they called Christianity, was strongly tinctured with the ancient and barbarous superstitions of the country. They were universally believers in ghosts and præternatural appearances. They marked with eager attention the variable forms of their cloudy and changeful sky, from the different aspect of which they foretold future and contingent events; and, absorbed in fantastical imaginations, they perceived in a sort of ecstatic vision things and persons separated from them by a vast interval of Each tribe had its peculiar dogmas and modes of faith, which the surrounding clans regarded with indifference, or at most with a cold dislike far removed from the rancor of religious hatred: and persecution for religion was happily a species of folly and wickedness unknown and unheard of amongst them, space. By extraordinary efforts of activity and valor, viscount Dundee, at the head of his gallant countrymen, made a rapid and alarming progress; and, BOOK L 1689. Killicran receiving great promises of support from the late king, he flattered himself with the vain hope of ultimately restoring the royal authority in North Britain. But being closely followed by general Mackay, who commanded for the reigning monarch in Scotland, after various marches and counter-marches, the two armies came to an engagement May the 26th, 1689, at the pass of Killicranky, some miles above Dunkeld. Such was the impetuosity of the Highlanders, incited by the Battle of conduct of their gallant chieftain, that the Eng- ky. glish troops were entirely broken in less than ten minutes. The dragoons fled at the first charge, and the whole train of artillery fell into the hands of the enemy. Nothing could be more decisive than the victory thus obtained, when a random shot put an end to the life of Dundee; and gene- Death of ral Mackay, taking advantage of this unexpected and fortunate incident, rallied his men, and retrieved with great courage and address the battle thus to appearance irrecoverably lost. The Highlanders, struck with grief and consternation, were never after able to make head; and the clans, wearied with a repetition of misfortunes, at length almost universally laid down their arms, and took the benefit of the pardon offered by king William to those who should submit within the time limited in his proclamation. The duke of Gordon, also, despairing of relief, surrendered the castle of Dundee. 1689. BOOK I. Edinburgh at discretion on the 13th of June 1689: so that the whole island of Great Britain now acknowledged the sovereignty of the new monarch; but Ireland was far from following this example. State of Europe In order to form a just estimate of the political state of this kingdom as connected with Great Britain, it will be necessary to fix our previous attention upon the situation of affairs on the continent. The rising power of France, and the immeasurable ambition of its sovereign Louis XIV., bad long excited the most serious apprehensions of the European potentates. Wholly negligent of the rules of policy, the pride of that monarch incited him to attempts no less insulting to the feelings, than injurious to the rights of his neighbours. Immediately on the conclusion of the peace of Nimeguen, Feb. 1678-9, two pretended courts of justice were erected, the one at Metz, the other at Brisac, under the appellation of "Chambers of Re-union," for the express and avowed purpose of enforcing the claims of the French monarch respecting those towns and districts which were said to be dependencies either upon the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun or upon the countries ceded to France by the treaty of Nimeguen. The feudal proprietors and lords of those places were cited to appear in these courts, and in default of such appearance were |